The advantages of weight-training exercise machines are widely recognized. Conventional weight-training exercise machines may feature single or multiple stations which enable a user to perform one or a variety of exercises for developing and toning different muscle groups. For example, the various stations of such exercise machines may include one or more stations that enable a user to exercise muscles of the arms and upper body using “press,” “shrug,” or “curl” types of movements, and one or more stations for exercising muscles of the legs using “squat,” “press,” or “extension” types of movements. Such weight machines provide the desired muscle training capability in a convenient, safe, and efficient manner.
Although prior art exercise apparatus and methods have achieved desirable results, there is room for improvement. For example, a user often desires to re-position a bench assembly of the exercise machine to perform various exercises. If the bench assembly is not equipped with wheels, the user must either pick the bench assembly up from the support surface, or drag the bench assembly across the floor surface. Either option may be inconvenient and may result in the user's dissatisfaction with the bench assembly. Alternately, if the bench assembly is equipped with wheels, the ease of re-positioning of the bench assembly may be improved. If the wheels remain free to roll, however, the bench assembly may undesirably shift or roll during the exercise. Furthermore, if the wheels are equipped with manually operated braking devices, the user is required to stoop to engage and disengage the braking device during re-positioning, and may forget to engage (or disengage) the braking device, thereby resulting in additional dissatisfaction with the bench assembly. Therefore, novel bench assemblies that mitigate these undesirable characteristics would have utility.